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Lawyer Delighted By Ruling Allowing Suburban Islamic Center To Open

DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. (CBS) -- A lawyer for Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations says he is delighted with a ruling by a federal judge - which sides with a suburban Islamic religious center's right to open - and goes against DuPage County.

Lawyer Delighted By Ruling Allowing Islamic Center To Open

"You know, I think the county just dug in its heels on this matter," said Kevin Vodak.

Kevin Vodak is the litigation director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which fought on behalf of the Irshad Islamic Learning Center -- a fight which was opposed by the DuPage County Board.

A federal judge has now sided with the learning center - but found there wasn't enough evidence to prove discrimination.

"In other words, we couldn't necessarily prove that Irshad was treated differently because it's a Muslim institution. But at the same time, federal laws require that the government properly justify its denial," said Vodak. "And here, the records show that there really was not a proper justification."

A spokesman for the DuPage County State's Attorney says there is no comment at this point about a possible appeal.

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